Delia Derbyshire - new tapes discovered!

[cybertect]

I wouldn't bank on it going up on iPlayer, they don't always, due to rights reasons

Well, that's what they're saying on the show's iPlayer page

Archive on 4 -
Sculptress of Sound: The Lost Works of Delia Derbyshire
Matthew Sweet celebrates the life and work of composer Delia Derbyshire.

Coming soon
BBC Radio 4 at 3:00 pm, 29th March 2010
BBC iPlayer soon after

 

[Sunspots]

Delia Derbyshire continues to get most attention, but I think it'd be interesting to hear some similar documentaries made about a few of the other members of the Radiophonic Workshop too.

Particularly like to know some more about Daphne Oram. As well as co-founding the Radiophonic Workshop, she developed what seems to have been (-to my puny untechnical mind ) an amazingly innovative technique that somehow involved converting visuals into electrical signals <?>, a process she rather naturally decided to call Oramics. What I've previously heard by her is every bit as innovative and other-wordly as Delia Derbyshire.

It's difficult to imagine just how completely alien much of the early pre-synth Radiophonic Workshop output must've sounded to unsuspecting listeners back then. It seems quite amazing (-and sort of culturally subversive?) that such experimental music was being beamed right into people's living rooms.

 

[AnnO'Neemus]

It's up now, catch it while you can! It's wonderful radio!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episod..._of_Sound_The_Lost_Works_of_Delia_Derbyshire/

 

[ska invita]

Delia Derbyshire continues to get most attention, but I think it'd be interesting to hear some similar documentaries made about a few of the other members of the Radiophonic Workshop too.

Talking of other members of the workshop there's this LP well worth checking out:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Noise_(band)
White Noise is an experimental electronic music band formed in London, England in 1969 by American-born David Vorhaus, a classical bass player with a background in both physics and electronic engineering. He was initially joined by BBC Radiophonic Workshop composers Delia Derbyshire and Brian Hodgson, both ex of electronic music project Unit Delta Plus.

available here for you ear

 

[PursuedByBears]

It's up now, catch it while you can! It's wonderful radio!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episod..._of_Sound_The_Lost_Works_of_Delia_Derbyshire/

Thanks for the link, that's great.

 

[vogonity]

It's up now, catch it while you can! It's wonderful radio!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episod..._of_Sound_The_Lost_Works_of_Delia_Derbyshire/

Listening now: what a fantastic programme!

 

[Sunspots]

Talking of other members of the workshop there's this LP well worth checking out:

available here for you ear

Yeah, well worth checking out.

I remember tracks from it began appearing on various mixes and compilations around the same time (-which turns out to be 2004), a couple of months after it was reviewed on Julian Cope's Head Heritage site. Excerpts appeared on two or three mixes by The Earlies (-the first place I heard any of it; compilation, and another track turned up on an Erol Alkan mix. (Possibly other examples too, I don't know.) Anyway, it seems to have been re-discovered by lots of people at the roughly the same time, which is strange, because at that point it hadn't been re-issued for several years.

I've sometimes thought it's a little bit of an over-rated cult album tbh, but I do waver on that. It's still an amazing (-and unsettling) listen, its production and structure miles ahead compared to most other albums of its time.

 

[killer b]

i discovered it about then. due to a pile of records my uncle gave me rather than any cope influence though...

it's a great album - gets a fairly regular spin here.

i remember reading that delia was working with sonic boom a few years ago (not long before she died i guess) - did any recordings result?

 

[Sunspots]

i discovered it about then.

Weird, huh!

due to a pile of records my uncle gave me...

Aw, that's so nice to hear.

I think that's part of every uncle's or auntie's duty; to be that slightly weird cultural influence.

i remember reading that delia was working with sonic boom a few years ago (not long before she died i guess) - did any recordings result?

Yeah, I remember hearing that they were working together; she appears on one or two of his E.A.R. albums from about ten years ago.

He was also on the radio (Freak Zone) talking about her (-and the new documentary The Delian Mode) a couple of weeks ago.

 

[killer b]

actually, it must've been earlier than that - she was still alive when i got the album, so it must've been 2000ish.

the years seem to fly by...

 

[Sunspots]

actually, it must've been earlier than that - she was still alive when i got the album

Dammit, BONUS POINTS.

 

[gentlegreen]

I'd no idea that album was Delia and co.

I randomly bought Peter Howell's "Through a Glass Darkly" in a (Filton) newsagent in 1982.

It needs playing at 45

 

[killer b]

Dammit, BONUS POINTS.

always best to be ahead of the curve.

 

[Sunspots]

always best to be ahead of the curve.

True, but that's only ever really happenstance; any 'curve' can so often only be seen with hindsight... It bugs me when people hear something and say it was 'ahead of its time'.

 

[gentlegreen]

My copy of "Electric Storm" was on the other side of a cassette of Rush's "Farewell to Kings" - I must have acquired it in the early 80s ..

Even as late as that I was having to satisfy my taste for pure electronic music with Jean Michel Jarre and Vangelis.

I was feeling the pain when they were describing laying reel to reel tapes along the corridor in the early days and editing individual notes.. I only ever did one small chinagraph and scalpel project and it was at least whole spoken phrases ...

 

[Sunspots]

I'd no idea that album was Delia and co.

I randomly bought Peter Howell's "Through a Glass Darkly" in a (Filton) newsagent in 1982.

It needs playing at 45

I've heard some rather quaint folky stuff he made (pre-Radiophonic Workshop) with John Ferdinando (Tomorrow Come Someday).

I think they also did a soundtrack to Alice, Through the Looking Glass, original copies of which are like hen's teeth.

 

[A Dashing Blade]

Radio 4 is broadcasting a documentary this evening at 8pm:

Download linky to mp3 version for those who want a copy for their hard-drives.

 

[killer b]

nice one - downloaded for the journey to work tomorrow...

 

[ska invita]

I've sometimes thought it's a little bit of an over-rated cult album tbh, but I do waver on that. It's still an amazing (-and unsettling) listen, its production and structure miles ahead compared to most other albums of its time.

I agree - i only listened to it the one time after borrowing it off a friend. Interesting for sure, but i didnt warm to it in any way.

 

[ska invita]

Just came across this little youtube vid an wanted to share with you:
i know its jsut a little scrap but it is quite amazing really (not necessarily to do with DD) - that tardis sound really is unique... id love to know how it was made.

More tardis fx here:

 

[spliff]

There's some Delia Derbyshire at http://www.ubu.com under the New Additions heading

 

[ska invita]

Just came across this little youtube vid an wanted to share with you:
i know its jsut a little scrap but it is quite amazing really (not necessarily to do with DD) - that tardis sound really is unique... id love to know how it was made.

More tardis fx here:

the internet is a wonderful thing

The distinctive accompanying sound effect — a cyclic wheezing, groaning noise — was originally created in the BBC Radiophonic Workshop by Brian Hodgson. He produced the effect by dragging a set of house keys along the strings of an old, gutted piano. The resulting sound was then recorded and electronically processed with echo and reverb. When employed in the series, the sound is synchronised with the flashing light on top of the police box.